Collapse of International Peace

• Hitler becomes chancellor


  In 1933, Hitler becomes chancellor and his aims are clear in his book, Mein Kampf
• Hitler's hatred for ToV


  -Labelled the Germans that signed it 'November criminals'

  -Hitler promised to reverse it

  -He had stopped making reparation payments
• Lebensraum

  -He wanted to expand German territory and expand Eastwards to create extra living space for Aryan Germans
• Defeat communism


  -Hitler was anti-communist

  -Hitler partly blames Bolsheviks for Germany's defeat

  -Hitler believes Bolsheviks want to take over Germany
• Hitler's rearmament


  -Thousands of unemployed workers were drafted into the army

  -Rearmament began in secret initially

  -In 1935, he staged a military rally
• German rearmament statistics from 1932 to 1939


  -Number of warships tripled

  -Over 200 times more aircraft

  -10 times more soldiers
• Reasons why rearmament occurred


  -British sympathy due to ToV

  -League of Nations weakness

  -Impact of depression: unemployment, support
• Saar plebiscite

  -1935

  -League of Nations had promised a plebiscite for people to vote on whether the region should return to German rule

  -Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels launched a massive campaign to persuade the people of the Saar to vote for the Reich

  -90% of the population voted to return to German rule
• Rearmament of the Rhineland


  -1936, big gamble

  -Used Abyssinia crisis as a distraction

  -Used the threat of the France-Soviet treaty against Germany as an excuse

  -Troops had orders to pull out if France responded

  -France refused to act without British support
• Spanish Civil war

  -1936

  -republican government vs Franco's right wing rebels

  -USSR supported republicans with weapons and aircraft

  -Hitler and Mussolini supported Franco

  -Britain and France didn't intervene directly
• Hitler and Mussolini's contribution to civil war

  -Mussolini sent thousands of troops

  -Germany sent aircraft and pilots who took part in bombing campaigns against civilians
• Consequences of Spanish Civil war

  -Strengthened bonds between Hitler and Mussolini

  -Encouraged Hitler to believe that they can get away with more as support for the rebels was not legal

  -Hitler's actions alarmed Britain and they started building up armed forces

  -USSR got suspicious of GB and Fr due to their reluctance to oppose fascism
• Anschluss

  -1938

  -Hitler believed the two states belonged together as one German nation

  -There was a strong Nazi Party in Austria and Hitler encouraged them to stir up trouble

  -Hitler told Schuschnigg that only Anschluss would solve the problem

  - Schuschnigg had no option but to call a plebiscite

  -Hitler sent his troops to Austria and enforced a 99.75 % vote for Anschluss.
• Sudetenland


  -Nazi leader in the Sudetenland demanded that the area should be part of Germany

  -Britain, France and the USSR had all promised to support Czechoslovakia if it came to war

  -Hitler called for a plebiscite in his meeting with Chamberlain

  -Hitler claimed that the Germans in Czechoslovakia wanted to be rescued.
• Munich Agreement


  -September 1938

  -Leaders of GB, Fr, Gr and It decided on the fate of Czechoslovakia.

  -They decided to give Hitler what he wanted. He was to gain the Sudetenland
• Consequences of Munich agreement

  -In October, Hitler took over the Sudetenland

  -Chamberlain ironically received a hero's welcome when he returned

  -In March 1939, Hitler took over the rest of the country without resistance

  -Britain and France threatened war if he invaded Poland
• Stalin's fears

  -signed a treaty with France to protect themselves from Germany

  -He was not consulted about Munich agreement
• Nazi-Soviet Pact

  -In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed

  -They agreed not to attack each other

  -Privately, they agreed to divide Poland between them
• Why Hitler signed the pact

  it gave him half of Poland without worrying about a war on two fronts
• Why Stalin signed the pact


  -it gave him some territory

  -Stalin did not expect Hitler to keep his promise and he needed time to build his forces to protect the USSR from the inevitable attack
• consequences of Nazi-Soviet pact

  -On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland

  -Britain and France demanded they withdrew

  -Hitler did not expect them to actually declare war

  -On 3 September, they declared war on Germany
• Appeasement for

  -Fear of communism was a bigger threat. Hitler was seen as a buffer to the threat of communism

  -Memories of Great War

  -Britain were not prepared for war

  -Lack of American support, isolationism

  -ToV
• Appeasement against


  -Germany was rearming quickly over time

  -Hitler took increasing risks. At some point, Britain and France needed to stand up to Hitler to prevent him from being too powerful

  -Only delayed and escalated the war and didn't prevent it